The Challenge of Four-Status Model of eLearning: Principles Toward a New Understanding for Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

This paper presents the critical reviews of the advantages and disadvantages of eLearning for healthcare professionals. The impact of learning on healthcare professionals is explored; the focus is on healthcare professionals in rural Thailand. Literature suggests that there are four main topics related to the drivers and barriers in eLearning, they are: Infrastructure; Finance; Policies; and Culture (IF-PC). IF-PC model of barriers and drivers of eLearning is being adopted as a template for the design of all eLearning, to the exclusion of other ideas. Using a case study approach the research, completed in 2006, had two phases. A questionnaire was distributed to a group healthcare professional student to gain information with questions adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Phase 2 employed three strands of data collection: interviews, a group discussions, and observation were employed to help with the understanding of the problems in greater depth. Data was analysed using a form of pattern matching. An evaluation of the adoption of eLearning in Thailand is presented along with a discussion on the findings. It appears that alternative models of eLearning cannot be disregarded. This has interesting consequences for the implementation of eLearning especially in developing countries